A trip through the Union stock yards and slaughter houses ... Chicago, U.S.A.

TRIP

THROUGH THE

STOCK VTTRDS.

SLAUGHTER
HOUSES.

BY GEORGE WM. LAMBERT.

ILLUSTRATED

—'H *'

PRICE 15 CTS

55>ooo Sold. ™s me?nf that

^*^7 thousand lovers of music
have already examined into the merits of the
Pease Piano and bought

*
*
*
*
*

ONE PROFIT ONLY.

Fine Tuning a Specialty.

POPULAR PEASE PIANOS have thousands of friends

and will serve YOU faithfully.

/ /_

//? ^,

£/ %n±

4 2.

7>a* 72^

•s /i

>>j_£

^•f.V/

'

HAMBLIN PRINTING Co.

.-418-420 DEARBORN STREE7

CHICAGO.

Table of Contents.

PAGE.

Introduction 5

The Union Stock Yards 7

The Slaughter of Cattle 8

The King of Butchers 12

How the Various Parts of the Animal are Utilized 16

Butterine Factory 17

Oil Houses 18

Glue Factory 19

The Slaughter of Hogs 20

Smoke House 24

The Slaughter of Sheep ,24

Wool House.. .28

Illustrations.

PAGE.

Main Entrance of Stock Yards Cover

Dressing Beeves 9

In the Beef Cooler 1 1

Cooling Room, Butterine Department 17

Press Room, Oil House , 18

Sticking the Hog 20

A Half Mile of Pork 21-

Chopping Meat, Sausage Department 22

Filling Skins, Sausage Department 23

Driving Sheep to Slaughter 25

'Killing Sheep 26

After Slaughter 27

Dressing the Sheep 28

L

... INTRODUCTION ...

Among the many interesting sights of Chicago, few are more
interesting than a trip through" the Union Stock Yards and Slaugh-
ter Houses. No one should fail to avail themselves of the oppor-
tunity to visit this great Stock Yards and Packing Town, which is a
city in itself, there being between twenty and twenty-five thousand
people employed here in the busy part of the year.

Since the writer first visited the Stock Yards and Slaughter
Houses he saw the great need of a guide to explain all he wished
to know about the place, and now, after nearly five years' study
about it, he takes pleasure in submitting to those who contemplate

a trip through the Stock Yards and Slaughter Houses this book

•
which gives a very true account of all the interesting sights of the

place, and he hopes the book will prove a valuable help to such.

GEO. W. LAMBERT.

The Union Stock Yards.

The Union Stock Yards were built in 1865 and opened for traffic in
December of that year. Business has continued to date and has stead-
ily grown in volume. The Stock Yards property, or what is known as
the original Stock Yards purchase, comprises 320 acres, bounded on the
north by Thirty-ninth street, east by Halsted street, south by Forty-sev-
enth street and west by Centre avenue. Since making the original pur-
chase the Stock Yards Company have added to their possessions by
the purchase of several smaller tracts of land for railroad yard pur-
poses, so that now the Stock Yards cover more than 450 acres of land.
The Stock Yards and Packing Town occupy all of the section of land
bounded by Thirty-ninth street, Halsted street, Forty seventh street and
Ashland avenue, except about 80 acres in the southwest corner, 40 ot
which have been subdivided and the balance is a cabbage field.

The entire system of all the railroads in the West center here. The
*arge capacity of the yards, the facilities for unloading, feeding and re-
shipping are unlimited. No other place in the world can receive, handle
and care for such an amount of live stock as is cared for at the Chicago
Union Stock Yards. This immense market received the following head
of live stock during the year 1892 :

Number of Cattle 3>57I»796

" Hogs 7-7I4,435

" Sheep 2,145,079

" Calves 197,576

" Horses 86,998

Largest receipts of Stock i day, i week, i month, i year.

" Cattle 32,679 95.524 385-466 3.57^796

" Calves 3,068 8,479 31,398 205,383

Hogs 66,597 300,488 1,111,997 8,600,805

" Sheep 18,797 58,683 227,316 2,182.667

" Horses 1,237 3.679 12,927 101,566

8 A TRIP THROUGH THE

The capacity per day for live stock at the Chicago Union Stock Yards

is as follows:

50,000 Cattle, 200,000 Hogs, 30,000 Sheep, 4,000 Horses.
A regular Horse Market is now established here. During the past
year the Company has erected a new Horse Exchange Pavilion 185x530
feet, at a cost of over $100,000, containing a display track 36 feet wide
and over 500 feet long, with three places for turning, all covered by an
iron dome and skylight, containing an amphitheatre capable of seating
3,000 people, every seat commanding a fine view of the track. The build-
ing is to be known as " Dexter Park Horse Exchange and Pavilion." It
will be heated throughout with the Sturtevant hot-air blast, making it
always comfortable in the most extreme cold weather. It is also lighted
with the arc .and incandescent electric light; has an elegant buffet, lunch
counter and fruit stand connected with it, also waiting and toilet rooms,
thus making it the most perfect and complete place for selling and dis-
playing horses and mules under roof in the world.

The Officers of the Union Stock Yards Company are as follows:
N. Thayer, President.

John B. Sherman, Vice-President and Gen'l Manager.
Geo. T. Williams. Secretary and Treasurer.
J. C. Denison. Ass't Sec'yand Ass't Treas.
Jas. H. Ashby, General Superintendent.

The Slaughter of Cattle.

Cattle received at the Union Stock Yards come from all parts of the
country and maybe divided into two classes: class i, Native cattle; class
2, Range cattle. The Native cattle are those produced in the States
near to Illinois, which are Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska,
Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Range cattle are those from the
plains of Texas, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. About three-fourths
of all the cattle received at the Stock Yards are Native cattle. These
are shipped by small farmers for market and are as fine a grade of cattle
as can be found anywhere in the world. From this grade of cattle come
the meats which are shipped all over the country in Refrigerator cars,
and the quality of which is unsurpassed. The Range cattle are generally
thin and unfit for cutting into the best grades of meat.

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 9

The rules of the Stock Yards are, that the animals must be fed and
watered before they are weighed, and without such weighing they cannot
be sold. The lowest time that cattle can be pushed through the stock
yard stage of their progress from the ranch to the killing-pen is twenty-
four hours, and this, if any reason therefor appears may extend to sev-
eral days. Then there is a rigid inspection by reliable officials that pre-
vents any diseased beast being sent to the slaughter house for conversion

DRESSING BEEVES.

into human food. From this point on all depends on the skill and care
with which the converting of him is done. In either of the large slaught-
ering establishments, Swift's, Armour's or Morris's, known as the " Big
Three," the processes may be said to have attained perfection. Let us
review the killing in the first named establishment.

Each beast for slaughter is driven into a narrow separate pen, the
cleanest pen he was ever in, where there is no sight or scent of blood to
alarm or excite him. A man standing on a board walk above stuns him

TO A TRIP THROUGH THE

by a blow delivered with a heavy sledge upon his forehead. The concus-
sion causes an abnormal rush of blood to his head and neck. Before he
regains consciousness the door is raised, causing the animal to slide out
upon the floor of the slaughter house. Then to make sure that the ani-
imal is powerless his skull is again crushed in; a chain is then fastened
to his hind legs and he is hoisted from the floor; his fore legs are spread
wide apart and a man thrusts a sharp knife into his throat. The blood
gushes out in a torrent; a man is draining the blood out of both arteries
and veins by scraping on the outside of the hide with a shovel. The ut-
most care is taken that this shall be thoroughly effected, as upon it de-
pends in a great measure prevention of the tendency to decomposition
that is inevitable where the blood is left standing among the muscular
tissues.

There seems to be an almost morbid fear of harboring somewhere
about the place germs of decomposition that might taint the meat. The
first element of security attained, that of thorough draining out of the
blood is shown by the condition of the meat, and the fact that the heart
when taken out is always found to be perfectly empty. But that is only
the beginning. The men whose department of the necessary handling
compels them to get blood on their hands must wash them instantly at
the spouting hose close by. In all the subsequent handling for removal
of the intestines and other internal parts, skinning, dividing into halves,
washing and drying, from the time the animal was first hoisted until he
is stowed away in the cooler, his flesh never touches the floor, and of all
the forty-two men who handle him on the way, each doing some one par-
ticular part and all working with the regularity of machinery and the
speed of lightning, not one has laid a dirty finger upon him.

The blood is washed down into a gutter which leads to a tank, from
which it is pumped into covered carts and taken to the fertilizer house,
to be put under treatment for conversion into a valuable fertilizer called
" dried blood."

Confining our attention to the one special steer, the next thing we
see is the head being taken off; after this he is lowered to the floor and
placed upon his back propped against sticks fastened to the floor. He is
left in this position until his legs are broken, stomach opened and the
hide skinned from the edges. Then with two hooks, one stuck behind
each of the joints of the hind legs, he is hoisted to a position convenient
for the butchers. After the tail is cut off, intestines taken out and the
hide pulled off a little more, he is -hoisted from the floor, never to touch

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES.

ii

it again. On two tracks above are wheels from which hooks are hang-
ing; these hooks are placed in and the others taken from the joints of
the hind legs; then two men pull the hide while another man pounds and
separates it from the flesh with a cleaver. The hide is then straightened,
out upon the floor by men with long poles; this is done to see if there are
any cuts in the hide and if there be any it is kept separate from the others
The hides are sent to a cellar where they are salted and folded, then they
are ready to be sold.

IN THE BEEF COOLER.

While the hide was being inspected a man was dividing the steer into
halves by using a large heavy cleaver. The next moment we see men
trimming the ragged edges and carefully washing and drying the meat.
The meat is then numbered, tagged, weighed and hung in a cooler, at a
temperature of 38 degrees F., where it remains forty-eight hours; at the
end of this time it is again weighed; this is done to find the percentage
of loss in weight, which will average about 3 per cent. Just eight minutes

12 A TRIP THROUGH THE

have passed from the time the animal was knocked until he was finally
stowed away in the cooler, although it can be done in five minutes. Two
thousand five hundred cattle are killed in ten hours at this house.

The King of Butchers.

I here present to the reader the biography and record of the great
butcher champion, M. F. Mullins, of Chicago. Mr. Mullins was born in
Canandaigua, N. Y., in 1863. He moved west with his parents in 1869,
settling in Hammond, Lake county, Indiana. At the age of 18 years Mr.
Mullins started out in life for himself, and chose for his vocation the
butcher business. He commenced his apprenticeship with the firm of
Swift & Co., when their cattle business did not exceed sixty head per day.
He has been in the service of this company continuously since, and has
seen the business increase to the present capacity of 7,000 head per day.
After eight years service with the company he was promoted to the posi-
tion of foreman, which he has held.tc- the present day. His first contest
took place in the Exposition building in Chicago, Illinois, August 22d,
1883, there being eight contestants for prizes, as follows: First prize, gold
medal, valued at $250: second prize, $100; third prize, $50. The contest-
ants worked their bullocks in the following order:

Min. Sec.
Walter Dennis, Bridgeport, 111. 7 39

William Rader, Bridgeport, 111. 7 54

Michael Sheck, Armour & Co., Chicago, 6 12

M. F. Mullins, Swift & Co., Chicago, 4 5

Pete Magee, Bridgeport, 111. 8 40

Rod Laverty, Boston, Mass. 3 38

Frank Noonan, Armour & Co. 8 40

Joe Malone, Bridgeport, 111. 12 22

This contest was principally considered on the best time made; good
work was not regarded. Rod Laverty lost first prize by a foul claimed
for not skinning out one hind leg. Mr. Mullins was awarded first prize,

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 13

Rod Laverty second, and Michael Sheck third. This contest was before
an audience of about three thousand people.

. This mode of contest has been discontinued, owing to the unsatis-
factory work done. It is now supplanted by contests under American
rules, which are as follows:

1. There shall be three judges, who shall be considered fairminded
and honorable men, and thoroughly acquainted with the business.

2. Cattle shall weigh not less than 1,400 pounds.

3. Contestants will be allowed eight minutes to dress the bullock;
judges to call time when the bullock is drawn up, front feet off and right
hindleg broken; dresser to call time when finished.

4. After dresser calls time he will not be allowed near carcass or
hide until after judges have made their inspection when, by having every-
thing perfect, dresser will be credited with 100 points in time of eight
minutes; points to be considered as follows:

1st. For opening, reining and siding bullock, 15 points.

2d. " leging, 5 points.

3d. " rumping and backing 15 points.

4th. " splitting, 15 points.

5th. " clearing shank and dropping hide, 10 points.

6th. " time, 20 points.

7th. " general neatness. 10 points.

8th. •' condition of hide, 10 points.

This constitutes the 100 points to credit. The following points will be
deducted for the following defects: Twenty points off for every minute
over the allotted eight minutes, and ten points in his favor for every minute
less than allotted time. Under these rules Mr. Mullins's second match
took place October 19,1887, at the Exposition building in Chicago. 111.,
with the exception that twenty-five minutes instead of eight were allowed
to dress the bullock. There were nine contestants in this match. The
judges were men of good standing and judgment and decided to the sat-
isfaction of contestants and audience. One of them was from Boston,
one from New York and one from Chicago.

14 A TRIP THROUGH THE

Min. Sec. Points.

Mr. Mullins won first prize, $100, 10 97

Larry Noonan won second, $50, 12 94

Joe Smith won third. $25, 11 45 81

At this contest there were over 3,000 people. These American rules
which governed this contest as well as all others since bring out a better
class of workmen, who find it to their advantage to do good work, be-
sides being swift.

Mr. Mullins's third match took place in the Exposition building, Chi-
cago, 111., October I5th, 1889, before an audience of 8,000 people. Mr.
Mullins worked his bullock last, and after the decision was given by the
judges, there was great shouting by Mr. Mullins's admirers. Three cheers-
were then given for the champion beef dresser of the world, Mr. M. F.
Mullins. After the excitement had quieted down Mr. Mullins thanked
the judges and audience in a neat little speech, also his coworkers. Then
Mr. G. F. Swift walked up to the judges's stand and presented Mr. Mul- .
lins with a handsome roll of bills. He was closely followed by Mr. E. C.
Swift, of Boston, who also gave Mr. Mullins another roll of bills in ad-
miration of his skill and activity as a beef dresser, and for so nobly rep-
resenting their firm in the contest. The prizes were as follows:

Min. Sec. Points.

First prize, $300, Mr. M. F. Mullins, 8 50 119
Second " $200, Mr. J. Smith, 10 116

Third " $100, Mr. Larry Noonan, 9 50 104

Mr. Mullins's fourth contest took place in Union Park, San Fran-
cisco, Cal., May i8th, 1890, before an audience of 12,000 people, for
$1,000. This contest was between Mr. Mullins and Mr. Westphall, of
San Francisco, who was champion of the Pacific slope. The match was
under the same rules as the two preceding contests, excepting that con-
testants were allowed but eight minutes to dress the bullock instead of
twenty-five. In the toss for choice of bullocks Mr. Westphall won, and
in the toss for working last Mr. Mullins won. The time was as follows:.

Mr. Westphall, 6 minutes, 42 seconds, making 85 points
Mr. Mullins, 7 " 7 " 127 "

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 15

After the judges had inspected the bullocks it was found that Mr.
Westphall had done very poor splitting and siding and had scored the
hide greatly, for which he lost several points. Four proprietors of the
largest tanneries in San Francisco inspected Mr. Mullins's hide and pro-
nounced it as being the best work done on any hide ever taken off in the
country. Mr. Mullins was then declared winner and the champion of the
world, being presented with a fine gold medal.

Mr. Mullins's fifth and last match took place at Willow Springs,
-Chicago, July 26th, 1890, under the auspices qf the County Commission-
•ers of Cook County, Illinois, in honor of Governor Palmer, who was at
that time a candidate for the United States Senate, and has since been
-elected. This contest was between Mr. Westphall and Mr. Mullins.
Mr. Westphall still thought he could beat Mr. Mullins and win back
some of the money lost in the previous contest, as well as the champion-
ship honors. The audience numbered 15,000 people. In this race Mr.
Westphall got choice of bullocks again and worked first. Time as fol-
lows:

Mr. Westphall 6 minutes, 43 seconds, scored 107 points.
Mr. Mullins 5 minutes, 42 seconds, scored 121 points.

SCORE CARD OF THIS RACE:

Opening, reining and siding 15

Working of legs 5

Rumping and backing 15

Splitting 15
Dropping hides, clearing shanks 10

Condition of hide 10

General neatness 10

Time 20

Fast time, 10 points gained per minute

Slow time, 20 points lost per minute

Mullins. Westphall.
12 12

5
'5

*5

10

IO
10

20
24

5
14

12
IO
IO
IO
20
14

Total points

121

107

16 A TRIP THROUGH THE

In this as in all other cases, all was excitement when the decision
was made. Mr. Westphall made an eloquent speech declaring that Mr.
Mullins was his superior, and that he had had a fair and square match
both in San Francisco and Chicago. He also added that he was confi-
dent there was not a man in this country who could beat Mr. Mullins in
a beef dressing contest. Mr. Mullins was then presented with a fine gold
watch by the four County Commissioners, valued at $250, and Mr. West-
phall was presented with $200 in cash as a token of sincere regard for
his good work, he being the only man who gave Mr. Mullins a close
fight.

How the Various Parts of the Animal are Utilized.

Now we want to know what becomes of the other parts of the ani-
mal, or have a brief idea at least.

The livers, hearts and kidneys are cleaned and trimmed and sold for
food. The tallow which is trimmed from the intestines is sent to the oil
houses to be converted into different grades of oleo oil. The bladders
are filled with air, trimmed, dried and sold to bladder factories. The
paunches and pecks, which are the first and second stomachs respectively
of the cattle, are emptied and washed, then they are sent to the tripe
room where they are pickled and sold as tripe. All other parts that
cannot be sold for human food are sent to the tank room, where they are
cooked in large tanks ; then it is called tankage, and after it is pressed it
is taken to the fertilizer house, dried, ground and sold to farmers as a fer-
tilizer. The grease is taken from the top of the tank water and used for
making tallow. The tank water is pumped to the fertilizer house, where
it is boiled down to a dark, thick jelly-like substance; it is then put into
small pans holding about twenty-five pounds each, and placed in hot ov-
ens, where it remains for about twenty-four hours; it is then perfectly
dry, and after being ground it is sold to farmers as the most valuable of
fertilizers, called concentrated tankage.

The skulls, jawbones, horns, hoofs, in fact, all the bones are sent to
the bone house, where they are cleaned, dried and made to look almost
as white as snow. Neatsfoot and other oils are made in this building,
from the marrow and fat taken from the bones.

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES.

Butterine Factory.

COOLING ROOM, BU1TERINE DEPARTMENT.

In visiting the Butterine factory, we start from the top floor and take
in the sights as we go down through the different floors; in this way we
start from the very beginning. When we get off of elevator at the top
floor we first see the "souring room;" this room is filled with vats, or
wooden tubs lined with tin or zinc. The " milk," for there is plenty of it
used in the manufacture of butterine, is put into these vats; the room is
then heated to a hot temperature, thus causing the milk to sour quickly.
It is then put into churns and churned by machinery; when this is done
it is transferred to mixing tanks and mixed with lard and oleo oil. These
tanks are very large, made of iron; on the inside are revolving ladles,

18

A TRIP THROUGH THE

giving the stock a thorough mixing. Then the mixture is allowed to run
out from the bottom of tanks into ice water, which causes the stock to
harden and form on top. Next it is taken from the water by men with
sieves and sent to a very warm room; the heat of this room causes the
separate lumps to mix, after which the mixture is sent down to the "but-
ter workers," which are tables that are kept rolling around under two
cone shaped rollers. Over these tables are round sieves, containing
enough salt for one table of butterine. After this is thoroughly worked
the butterine is sent down to the packing room, where it is put up in dif-
ferent size packages, and then sent to the shipping room to be branded
and stamped; then it is ready for shipment. The retail price of butterine
is from 14 cts. to 19 cts. per pound. The 14 cts. per pound being the
common grade, and 19 cts. being the very best, or Extra Creamery
Butterine.

Oil Houses.

I\H OR\G\HNV 9HOTO T MMLtt BX STROHWtltP. Si

PRESS ROOM, OIL HOUSE.

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 19

The oil houses are the cleanest places in Packing Town; the floors
are kept so clean that a stranger sometimes hesitates to walk upon
them. The press room men work in their bare feet and very light cloth-
thing, the temperature being between 80 and 90 degrees F. On the top
floor of the building the fat is being hashed and running from the hasher
into slanting troughs, which lead to open kettles. By cooking this fat
it is converted into oil; then it is drawn off from the bottom of kettles on
the floor below and put in square wooden troughs which are lined with
galvanized tin. This oil is called " oleo stock." While the stock grad-
ually hardens men will stir it with their hands and arms occasionally.
When it becomes mushy it is put into cloths, folded and then put into
presses and pressed by machinery. It requires nearly two hours press-
ing before all the oil is all separated from the cloths. As the oil separ-
ates from the cloths it drops into a tank and is drawn off into barrels. It
is of a yellowish color and has a very rich flavor; it is called oleo, or
butter oil, and is used in the manufacture of butterine. When the oil is
all pressed out, there is nothing in the cloth but a very hard white cake.
This is called oleo stearine; it is used largely in the manufacture of cand-
les, and also for compound lard.

Glue Factory.

The glue factory is a very interesting place for one having an oppor-
tunity to visit it. A great many people have an idea that every glue
factory sends out a sickening odor that is felt for miles around; but such
is not the case with the glue factories of Packing Town, as all the mate-
rial used is fresh from the slaughter houses. The different parts of the
animal material used are pieces of hides, ears, horn piths, sinews of the
feet of cattle, pigs' feet, sheep feet and other scraps that cannot be used
for anything else. Nearly all of these are put through different pro-
cesses. To explain each would require more space than is herein given.
When the glue is made, it is drawn off into square pans, holding about
fifty pounds each. When the pans are filled they remain in the chill room
until the glue hardens; then they are taken to the top floor and held in
hot water until the glue loosens from the side of the pans. The lump is
then put into a machine, which cuts it into small thin cakes. These
cakes are put upon wire racks in cages by girls, and when the cages are
full they are lowered to the next floor by elevators for that purpose,
and sent to the drying room where hundreds of cages of glue are hung
and dried in a day. Afterthe glue is dried it is ground into small pieces
and is ready for shipment.

20 A TRIP THROUGH THE

The Slaughter of Hogs.

The hogs are generally shipped in double-deck cars by farmers from
all parts of the country to the Stock Yards. When they arrive they are

ow\Ci\Nik\_ PHOTO

STICKING THE HOG.

fed and weighed and when sold are sent direct to the shackling pen of
the slaughter houses through viaducts erected fyr that purpose. These
viaducts are more than a mile in length. By using these viaducts a drove
can be kept together and also be free from danger in crossing the railroad
tracks.

The shackling pen is filled with hogs, and a boy in among them fast-
ens a shackle upon one of the hind legs of the hog; a chain is hooked
into a ring of the shackle and the hog is hoisted by machinery to a man
who places the shackled hog upon a greased slanting rail; the end of the
chain is then loosened and thrown back to theshackler again. When the
hog is placed upon this greased slanting rail he slides down to the " stic-
ker." Of course the hog is yelling more and louder than ever before,

UNMON STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES.

21

but as soon as he quits kicking and tries to think what has happened the
sticker plunges a knife sharpened on both edges into his throat. After
stopping a few seconds to let the blood drain out the hog is allowed to
slide down the greased rail until he reaches a boy who places a hook in

liH 0«\(i\HKV PttOTO

A HALF MILE OF PORK.

the ring of the shackle, and then allows the hog to slide off the end of
the rail. The sudden jerk caused by the drop of the hog causes the
shackle to slip off of his leg and he falls into a pan of hot water. He is
then kept rolling in the water by men with poles until he reaches the end
of the pen where there is an apparatus for throwing him out upon a table.
The hair is then taken from his ears, after which he is fastened to the
•' scraper," a machine so arranged as to take almost all the hair off. After
this he is scraped off by hand, of all the hair remaining in small bunches
— his head is then taken off. Next he is put upon a rail and pushed

22

A TRIP THROUGH THE

along to the " washing box," which is a small place containing iron pipes
pointing out in different directions; the hog passes between these pipes,
while the water rushes upon him with considerable force, giving him a

CHOPPING MEAT, SAUSAGE DEPARTMENT.

thorough washing. From here he is sent to men who might be called
•' hog barbers," for they do nothing but shave hogs. When these men
are through with him he looks very clean and white. Next his stomach
is opened and the intestines taken out. This is done in short order by one
man, and when through with him a swift stream; of water is forced all
over him, giving the hog the last washing he is to have. He is then dried
on the inside with cloths, and on the outside with knives run over him just
as the barbers did; the knives take all the water off much better than the
cloths do. After this is done the hog is- sent to two men who pull the
lard out; one man will pull from the right side with the right hand while
the other man pulls the lard from the left side of the hog with the left
hand. After the lard is taken out the hog is- weighed. The lard is sep/-

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 23

arately weighed and put into large kettles and rendered, making the
•" Pure Kettle Rendered Leaf Lard." The hog after being weighed is sent
to the hanging room, where all the scraps and ragged edges are trimmed
off; he is then divided into halves in this room. From here Ifltis low-
ered to the chill room, or cooler, where he remains for a time varying
from twenty-four hours to six days. The chill room is kept at a temper-
ature of from 33 to 35 degrees F. About three minutes pass from the
time the hog's throat was cut until he was ready to be sent to the chill
room. The hogs are handled in one house by about thirty-five men, who

FILLING SKINS, SAUSAGE DEPARTMENT.

get through with about 9,000 hogs in ten hours.

Some of the hogs are sent to the cutting room, where they are cut
up into different parts, such as bellies, pork loins, hams, shoulders and
spare ribs. The pig's feet are pickled; the remaining parts are used in
the sausage room for making bologna and sausage meat. The hams,
shoulders and bacon are smoked in houses built for that purpose.

24 A TRIP THROUGH THE

Smoke House.

There is not much to be said of the smoke house, but to begin with,
let us make smoke. Corncobs are the best material that can be used for
making the right kind of smoke, as they give the meat a sweeter flavor
than anything else, but corncobs are not plentiful enough to be used the
whole year round, and in this^ase, sawdust and logs of wood are used
instead. The house must be thoroughly dried out before the meat is al-
lowed to be smoked. This is done by burning logs of wood in the build-
ing for about five hours. There are five floors in this building, separated
from each other by thin iron rails, so as to allow the smoke to pass
through the different floors until it reaches the top of the building, where
it slowly escapes through several chimneys on the roof. Each ham is
hung in the center of a small stick, which is placed across the rail, side
by side. The hams, shoulders, bacon and beef tongues require from
twenty-four to twenty-six hours smoking. As the hams require the most
smoke, they are hung on the floor nearest the fire. The shoulders may
be hung on this floor, also the next. The fourth floor is for bacon, and
the fifth for tongues. The different floors can be regulated for the
amount of smoke needed. There are from 5,000 to 10,000 hams smoked
in this building every day.

The Slaughter of Sheep.

The sheep, when they arrive at the Stock Yards, are first fed and
weighed, after which they are sold and then driven to the slaughter house
through viaducts. When they reach the gate at the end of the viaduct,
they see one or two sheep in a pen a few yards from them, each having
a bell attached around their necks. These trained sheep are called the
" leaders." When the gate is thrown open, all of the sheep run down to
the "leaders" and follow them to the pen from which they are to be
taken and slaughtered. The "leaders," after leading the sheep to this
pen, get away fro n the others through a trick taught them, and then re-
turn to their own pen, where more sheep may be waiting. These leaders
are used to save time, and it will be noticed how quickly the sheep will
follow them to the pen, much more quickly than they could be driven
there by men. The leaders become so attached to their keepers that
they take up the habit of chewing tobacco. ,

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 25

Now let the reader prepare for some unpleasant but interesting
sights — the slaughter of an innocent sheep. First, a shackle is put on
one of the hind legs of each of the two sheep, which are hoisted up to-
gether by means of a chain attached to the ring of the shackle, to a boy,
whose duty it is to place small wheels with hooks attached, on the track
overhead, from which the sheep are to hang. Then the sticker plunge8
a sharp knife into one side of the throat, cutting clean through, the head

DRIVING SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER.

being alrrost severed from the body. This is a very pitiful sight to
strangers; many persons have fainted away immediately after witnessing
the slaughter of sheep, while the same persons will laugh and enjoy
themselves at the sight of hog slaughtering. Another method sometimes
used to cut the throat is as follows : Two or three men go into the pen,
and each carry out one sheep in his arms; it is then laid upon a bench,
where there are two iron stakes which are wide enough apart to allow the
neck to enter. Then the sticker will bend the head backward, and thrust

26

A TRIP THROUGH THE

the knife deep into the throat, after which the sheep is hung up to allow
the blood to drain out. One way is as pitiful as the other. The sheep,
after their throats are cut, are sent to boys,, who rip the hide up the legs,
then the legs are broken, after which a hook is placed behind the joints
of each of the forelegs. He is then sent to a man to have the skin
pulled from the neck and chest. Next he is sent to another man, who
will trim the skin again from the neck and feet, and the hook to which

KILLING SHEEP.

the hind legs were fastened is taken away and two long hooks attached
to a wheel on the track overhead are place'd in, and the other hooks are
taken from the joints of the forelegs. From here the carcass is sent to
men who take it from the long hooks and hang the hind legs upon small
stationary hooks, which are on a beam about five feet from the floor.
The skin is then torn off with marvelous rapidity, and horrible to relate,
however, in less time than it takes to tell it. the head is taken off and the
breast bone split open, after which the intestines are taken out. Then
he carcass is washed, dried and all the ragged edges are trimmed off.

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES.

27

After this is done, the carcasses are hung on racks and weighed, eight or
ten at a time; then they are sent into the cooler, where they remain
twenty-four hours at a temperature of 38 degrees F. When the sheep is
finally stowed away in the cooler, he has been handled by twenty differ-
ent men on the way, each taking some one particular part, and only five
minutes have passed since the poor sheep drew his last breath. A cer-

Ml OR\(»\NKY. -PHOTO

BX SIROHWVItR I. \NXUNH,

AFTER SLAUGHTER.

tain person has said that he marked the wool of a live sheep, just as it
was being shackled, and ten minutes from that time he saw the very
same wool he had marked on top of a load of sheep skins, which were
being taken to the wool house. This may seem exaggerated to some
extent, but when one takes into consideration the fact that only two
minutes had passed when the skin was torn off, and that about 2,500
sheep are killed in ten hours at this house, it will be admitted that such
a thing is possible.

A TRIP THROUGH THE

M* OP\G\uia PHCPO

ex STROHWMIR

DRESSING THE SHEEP.

Wool House.

Now let us have a brief account of the wool house, which is a very
interesting place to visit, although there is not a great deal to be seen at
this place, and for this reason the writer will not be able to give a lengthy
account, but will explain all of the most interesting facts, .

The sheep skins are taken to the wool house and put into large vats
to be washed; then after being washed, they are put into a linking ma-
chine. This is made of iron and built somewhat similar to a common
tub, on the inside of which is another tub fastened by a pivot. The wool
is put into the inner tub, which is then made to go around very fast,
causing the wool to press against the side of the tub and the water to
pass into the outer tub, which remains stationary. From this machine

UNION STOCK YARDS AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES. 29

the skins. are sent to the fourth floor, where they are washed with acid
which loosens the wool from the skin. Next they are taken to the top
floor to have the wool scraped off. The wool is then gathered up and
put through a separator, which loosens and separates the wool. From
the separator the wool is sent to a room below, then it returns through
chutes through which the wool is sent to a large dryer, where the tem-
perature is 214 degrees F. The wool is sent through this dryer five
times, and after it has passed through the fifth time it is thoroughly dry.
Then it is allowed to drop from the dryer into large bins on the floor be-
low, where it is packed in large bags, which, when full, will weigh about
200 pounds each. After the wool is taken off of the skins, they are put
through a pickling process, after which they are cleaned and then sold to
tanneries.

The illustrations in this book were
taken from original photos by Stroh-
meyer & Wyman. They also publish
the finest series of Stereoscopic Views
made. Their sole agents are

ONDERWOOD 5 GNDERWOOD,
New York, Chicago, London and Toronto.

On Easy Payments,

weekly or monthly.

GEORGE A. LAMBERT,

5232 EMERALD AVENUE, CHICAGO

Agent also for the Celebrated Pease Pianos.

Don't fail to (all on the Iarg=
esf and most economical
Clothing floiise in the city to
bfcy yofcr clothing for yo{ir=
self and boys. We have
everything for

MEN

DON'T FAIL TO VISIT OUK

SHOE DEPARTMENT.

835, 837, 839, 841 ^ 843 ROOT STREET. CORNER
EMERALD AVENUE.

UNION STOCK YARDS.